Apparatus for the manufacture of spoked wheels.



1. HANSEN. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOKED WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 71 I911.

' Patented July 18, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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INVENTOR. Z

WITNESSES.

1. M. HANSEN.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OFSPOKED WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I, 1911.

1,191,591. Patented July 18, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Has IMVENTOR.

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O N M. HANSEN, or 1 I'I TSBITRGHEI,"I?ENNSYLVAJSTIA, Assrenon TO rone-En STEEL WHEEL CO PANY; LQE rIT'T'S nG rnnnsyrvnmg A CORPORATION or 'rn'NN- SYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF S PO K ED WHEELS.

Applieatiop filed ,Oetobr 7,1911. SeriaI IIo. 653,433.

To all whom it may concern: p l

Be it known that ;I, VJQHIWM. ,HANSEN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, in thecountyof Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new;

and useful Improvement in Apparatus for the ltlanufacture ofSpoked Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a ,full, clear, and exact description thereof.

, Myinventionrelates to the apparatus for the manufacture of steel spoked wheels, for

'examplelight forged .steel car wheels. It is very desirable for some classes of car wheels,

such .asSthose carrying relatively light loads as in electric service,to provide a relatively light weight forged steel wheel because of the greater strength inthis class of wheels to resist shocks and jars, as any material reduction in weight produces a ,l1ke economy in cost of running. For this class of .car wheels it has been found that a one-Wear wheel, namely, .a ,wheel with a light hub and rim but with sufficient thickness of flange, is very desirable, and great diificultyhas been experienced in providing such ,a wheel with a light weight web of sufficient stiffness.

One main reason for this is found in the difficulty of forging an even light .webcorrespondingto .the usual proportions .of.the

wheel body, because the metal of the .wehis forged much .thinnerlthan the hub and rim,

and is subjected to very considerably .more

belowvthe safety limit for wheels .ofgthis type. By .thepresentanvention I provide means'for making wheels with a light weight midsseetion connecting the hub .and

rim and .yetfwith sufiicient ,stiflness to sustain the desired load. Itrelaitesparticularly to the means 01; shearingtheweb par- 1 tion of the forgedwheel so astop-rovidean Specification of Letters Patent.

stiffness and strength to the wheel.

.th zfina-l' orglng pera ion- Patented July 18, 191.6.

integral. spoked wheel with sufficient thickness of spoked portion to give the required It consists, generally stated, in the combination with a bottom or anvil shearing die having supporting face corresponding to the shape ofthe wheel and suitable shearing openings with a reciprocating Edie head carrying a series of shears by which ,at a singlestroke PQIZtIQILS of the Web of, the

wlieel may be sheared therefrom so forming I a series ,of spokes connecting the hub and r m. It ,also comprises- ,a reciprocating clamp ng head adapted to clarnp the web of the .wheel to the enter face of the rim or tread so as to hold it to shape during the shearing operation, thus making it practicable to shear ,the wheel immediately. after it is forged to shape and to hold to the proper dishedshape duringthe shearing op eration. c I

; Inthe accompanying drawingsFigure l is a vertical section with a seriesjof .dies suitableforforging the wheel; Fig. 2 is a like vertical section of the shearing diesembodying the invention; Fig. 3-is a face view of the finished wheel; Fig. 4 is a vertical sec- .tion of .the ,wheelonthe line Fig, 3; and Fig. 5 is a .detail section on the line 55 Fig. .3.

lln the ananufactiue of the wheel any suit ableineans may be employed, the wheels being made either by aforging or a rolling operation, or a combination 'ofthe two as found desirable. In Fig. ,1 I have illustrated the forging dies suitable for this purpose, sai i 1 ins thea vidi ,1 1. .e.r

ciprocating forging Tdie2, the ring die 3 and the punchfi. The'dies as illustrated can .be .usedeither'as oneeop'eration dies,

producing the wheel from the blank by one forging operation, at the 7 same time dishing the wheel, drawing tjhe hub out of line with (the rim, or maybe used as-finishing dies for I'n Fig. 2 I liaveillustrated the dies, embodying thepreSent invention, these dies having-the reciprocating die head TcarLy- The supporting surface of this anvil ,die is of ,proper contour for. the supporting of the .wheelybeing illustrated asahaving a'hub seat 9, and rim seat 9 and a web seat 9, the hub being illustrated as out of line with the rim and the web seat being inclined according to the dish imparted to the wheel. The anvil die has also the shearing openings 10 corresponding to the shears 8 and it has also a central supporting mandrel 11 which enters within the axle opening formed in the wheel and centers the wheel upon the anvil die and sustains the hub of the wheel in such way as to prevent its deformation during the shearing operation. The shearing openings are illustrated with suitable clearance 12 for the dropping of the metal removed from the web of the wheel. To properly sustain the heated wheel during the shearing operation I provide a clamping head 1%- whieh is carried in the reciprocating head 7, that head having a central pressure cylinder 1:) in which the plunger 16 of the clamping head 14- slides. The clamping head can be raised by suitable means such as the bars 17 connected thereto and extending upwardly through openings in the reciprocating head 7 and having cotters 18 near their upper ends which are engaged by the reciprocating head and so lift the clamping head. The clamping head 14: has suitable openings 19 for the passage of the shears 8 and carries the clamping face 20 corresponding in shape to the upper face of the wheel web and the curved faces of the hub and rim, so providing for the positive clamping of the web portion of the wheel during the shearing operation. In order to properly brace the wheel rim during such shearing operation I also prefer to provide on the clamp ing head the ring die 21 fitting against the outer face of the rim or tire of the wheel and sustaining it against possible deformation during the shearing operation. This .ring 21 fits into the seat 22 formed in the anvil die 9 and confines the outer face of the wheel rim during shearing. The clamping head is preferably forced downwardly by hydraulic pressure.

In the use of the apparatus for the manufacture of car wheels, the wheel is forged to shape in any suitable way and is preferably sheared while still in heated condition. In this way I am enabled to produce the wheel 23 with the finished hub 24, rim 25, fiange E26 and dished web portion 27. The wheel blank can be easily formed, the hub and rim of light weight and the web of snfiicient thickness relative to hub and rim to provide the necessary stiffness in the finished spoked wheel with the desired lightness of weight caused by the shearing out of the web. In the preferred manufacture of light car wheels the web is made at least three-fourths of an inch thick near the rim and one inch thick near the hub. In such forging operation the wheel is dished so that the web portion is inclined instead of horizontal when resting upon the shearing die. While the wheel is still at a relatively high heat it is placed upon the anvil 9 which properly supports the same over its entire lower surface as above described and by the forcing down of the die head 7 by hydraulic pressure the several shears 8 simultaneously operate upon the web portion of the wheel body, shearing out large portions of the web at different points so as to produce the spokes 28. The shears pass through the web portion 27 on lines parallel to the wheel axis so that by one opera tion of the shearing dies the metal can be removed simultaneously at different points so as to produce the several spokes connecting the hub and rim. By this shearing operation, in operating upon dished car wheels, the shears first engage with the dished web portion of the wheel near the outer portion of the web and pass through the web along inclined lines, so providing for a clean cutting along gradual lines through the inclined or dished web portion of the wheel, thus providing for a clean shearing cut through the web portion with dies moving parallel to the axis of the wheel and having cutting edges which have horizontal faces at right angles to such axis. For some sizes of wheel and thickness of rim it is also desirable to suitably brace the upper face of the wheel and confine the hub and rim face and in such cases by means of the clamping head 14 with its web clamping face 20 and its rim clamping die 21 I am enabled to hold the heated wheel to exact shape during the shearing operation, pre venting any possible deformation of the wheel in shearing. The die head 7 and clamping head 14 can then be raised and the finished wheel be withdrawn from the press.

In the formation of the wheel by the apparatus above described I prefer to leave the narrow continuous web portion 29 extending beyond the hub and the like web portion 30 near the rim, the metal as re moved leavin such web portions of spokes 2S connecting the same, said spokes being wider close to the hub, as at 31, and close to the rim, as at 32, connecting to the hub and rim by curved lines as at 33, 34. In such construction while a large portion of the metal of the web, approximately onehalf, is removed, I provide flat faced spokes with sheared edge faces or shear-finished edge walls parallel with the wheel axis, to gether with widened and thickened portions connecting these spokes to the wheel rim and hub. The shear-finished edge walls as so formed are made parallel to the axis and I am enabled to accomplish this by a single stroke of the die head so that it is possible to ra pidly produce the wheels by first forging t em to shape and while still in heated dies and subjecting them to the shearing tively easy in the shearing of dished car Wheels by providing for the engagement of the shears near the outer portion of the web so that the shearsact progressively through the metal of the web. and the necessity of dies of. great power for, such purpose is overcome. By simultaneously shearing through the web at different points to proaccomplished while the metal of the web is at practically the same temperaturethroughout, and Ithus avoidsettingup' 7 strains in the wheel body. By means of the apparatus I am enabled to produce wheels and at relatively low cost.

having thick spokesintegral with the hub and rim, such spokes having fiat'faces and shear edges, the spokes portion betweenthe hub and rim' being reduced approximately onefhalf in weight while having all the necessary strength and stiffness to sustain the weight to which this class of wheels is subjected. The wheels can be rapidly produced hat I claim is: p

1. In wheel shearing apparatus, the combination of a bottom die having a supporting face corresponding in contour to the wheel face and having shearing openings in said face in line with the Whiel web, a die head reciprocatin parallel tat/he axis'of the wheel and provl ed with shearing dies in line with said shearing openings, and a reciprocating clamping head having arim clamping ring fitting around the rim face Y Copies of this patent may be obtained to r five cents each, by address Washington, D. G. p

:wheel and provided with shearing dies in of thelwheel' to prevent distortionoffthe f Wheel during the shearing operation. stroke.- This shearing stroke is made rela- 2. In wheel shearing apparatus, the combination of, a bottom die having a supporting face corresponding in contour to the wheel face and having shearing openingsin saidface in line with the Wheel web, a die head reciprocating parallel to the axis of the wheel and provided with,

shearing dies in line with said shearing openings, a reciprocating clamping head 7 duce the spokes the shearing at all points is having a rim clamping ring fitting around wheel whereby the wheel is rigidly held against radial distortion. I

3. In wheelshearing apparatus, the combination of a bottom die having a supporting face corresponding in contour to the Wheel face and having shearing openings in said face in line with the wheel web, a die head reciprocating parallel to the axis of they line with said shearing openings, and a clamping head having a web clamping face 7 corresponding to and engaging with the web of thewheel and having shearing openings for the passage of the shears and a clamping ring engaging with the rim face of the wheel to prevent distortion of the wheel.

In testimony whereof, I, the said JOHN M. HANSEN, have hereunto set my hand.

i JOHN M. HANSEN Witnesses:

. ROBERT C. T Na,

I OHN, FJWIL ing the Commissionerof Patents, 

